We couldn’t get this one to fit IN the basket anymore though…
Monthly Archives: March 2013
And baby makes four
Please welcome…
The Mouse
March 14, 7:56 a.m.
7 lbs, 14 oz
19.5 inches
Wanna play a guessing game?
Baby Boy Bump #1 vs Baby Boy Bump #2, same shirt, same pants, same gestational length.
On the left, my first son. I gained about 40 lbs and he came out at 8 lbs, 10 0z, 21 inches long. The doctors kept insisting he was going to be 10 lbs. Whoops.
On the right, my second son. I’ve gained 20 lbs exaclty and the doctors think he’s measuring about 7.5 lbs, but probably just as long. So what do you think?
Winner gets a bottle of my encapsulated placenta pills!
JUST KIDDING.
How about a placenta bear instead?***
***I’m sorry if you didn’t realize this thing existed. It’s so creepy, I know. Really, I’m sorry.
Seventh Generation – for my new generation
When you have a baby, it can be overwhelming to face the piles of stuff you suddenly accumulate. Diapers, pacifiers, bottles – you can (and will) fill up every nook and cranny of your house with this stuff.
Over time though, you require less and less. Piece by piece the baby junk disappears, replaced by more toys than you ever thought you could fit in your living room. Teensy bodysuits give way to t-shirts that were just WAY TOO BIG when you bought them off the clearance rack a year ago, but now strain to cover your kid’s belly, bulging with chocolate milk and chicken nuggets…and a gallon of ketchup.
But one thing remains. Once you’ve discovered the awesomeness of having baby wipes around at all times, you’ll never let them go.
I never put much thought into the existence of baby wipes until I had the baby, of course. Now I’m not sure how I lived without them.
They’re stashed in my purse.
They peek out of shelves in the bathroom.
They’re always easily accessible for my toddler to grab one so he can “yipe my nose.”
I hoard stacks of them in closets and pantries and go to great pains to ensure I never run out of them.
Since I have so many uses for them and they touch all manner of body parts (and even sometimes furniture – I’ll admit to using them for a quick dust here and there) I like my wipes to free of anything smelly. They need to be big enough and thick enough to do some damage to gross messes. Most importantly, they need to be gentle so my eczema-prone husband and son won’t poof up into giant rashy monsters after using them.
Seventh Generation fulfills my needs with a great product, their Free & Clear wipe, available in stashable 64-count packs as well as 256-count mega-packs that combine gentle, cloth-like performance with the thickness you need to wipe away little (and big) messes. They are free of alcohol, dyes, synthetic fragrances, parabens and phthalates.
These wipes have been redesigned with 70% reduced plastic use through the use of plant materials and are larger, thicker and softer than their earlier version.
We’re expecting a new baby anytime now (You hear that, baby? ANY. TIME. NOW.) and would love to celebrate that by giving away a free 64-count pack of Seventh Generation Free & Clear Baby Wipes to one lucky reader!
To enter, leave a comment with your best baby tip. The giveaway will end Friday, March 15th at 11:59 Central. The winner will be chosen via Random.org. Please allow 4-6 weeks for fulfillment of the prize. This giveaway is open to US residents 18 and older only, please.
I was provided this product for review by Seventh Generation. While I have been compensated by both Seventh Generation and The Motherhood, all opinions are my own. As if you doubted that.
UPDATE: Congratulations to Alina, comment #7! Send me your mailing address and Seventh Generation will have those wipes headed your way!
An afternoon with the Kansas Freezer Meal Queen
This morning I’m sitting on the couch, looking like a Buddha in yoga pants and a maternity t-shirt, humbly contemplating the blessings of true friendship that I have.
Friends from back home in Texas who, even four years after I abandoned them to the storms and mosquitoes, still regularly keep in touch and send gifts to my boys. Friends from all over the Internet, some of whom I’ve never met, who care for my family and are helping welcome our new son.
I have one friend who sends me morning text messages checking up on me when she somehow just knows it’s going to be a rough morning. I have another who sends me silly Facebook messages and keeps me laughing.
And I have this friend who, even though she juggles four kids, a yard full of dogs, a household and her own successful, busy blog, still took an entire Sunday out of her schedule to shop for and prep a freezer full of meals for my family and me.
Superwoman here, she’s working on running 500 miles this year. She’s mastered a gluten-free lifestyle for herself and her family. Her birthday parties are epic. And she can turn a cart full of groceries into nearly a month’s worth of meals in one afternoon.
Yesterday after a tasty brunch we hit up a few stores for supplies. Greta was kind enough to refrain from making fun of me as I huffed and puffed and grunted my way down the aisles. I had chosen eight or nine different casserole recipes that used groups of similar ingredients and spent about $150 on food and pans – not bad for a dozen dinners (that will yield plenty of leftovers)!
When we got to the house, Greta roasted the chicken, browned the ground meat and boiled the pasta, all while looking cute in her coordinated pink apron/shoes/phone combo. I sat in a chair at the table, ate chocolate and whined about my pelvis.
Over a period of about three hours, we assembled a variety of baked chicken pasta dishes, a couple of Mexican-inspired tortilla bakes, and one very badass macaroni and cheese. There’s some greek chicken pasta in there, some pizza pasta, an enchilada casserole that I’m using all of my willpower to avoid cooking RIGHT NOW and a tater tot casserole that will be my guilty pleasure one day.
My kitchen was a glorious wreck through much of the process, although it cleaned up right quick when we finished. Looking back, the whole experience was an absolute blast and I look forward to being able pay it forward and do this for another mom one day. In the meantime, I plan to make “Freezer Cooking Day” a new tradition around here.
If you’re interested in giving freezer cooking a try, you just need about an hour on the Internet, some good organizational skills, a great friend to help out and one afternoon a month.
I hope to show off some of these meals on Fridays after the baby is born – you know, once I can form coherent sentences again. In the meantime, check out a few resources if you’d like to get started on your own freezer stash!
